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I couldn't debug the code because of my name

mikolaj-kaminski.com

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Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#231

Post by a1369209993 »

trinovantes wrote: post #180

In CS, most algorithms assume an ASCII character set. I wonder if there's any string-related algorithms that completely break (functionally or complexity wise) when given UTF-16 or UTF-8 character sets

Asymtotic complexity can't change based on the character set, since you can just reuse the same algorithm with larger opaque datums. (Exception being algorithms with O(n^8) or O(n^256) complexity, but noone uses those anyway.)

A variable width encoding can cause issues in principle, but useful algorithms already have to deal with strings that have variable-length physical represention anyway (eg "yes" vs "no"), so it tends not to be a problem in practice.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#232

Post by psd1 »

a1369209993 wrote: post #212
nightpool wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this Python's fault? It's not like the `docker-compose` file would have worked any better if it silently replaced one of the volumes with an inaccessible file. Instead, you'd just get a failure from the Windows filesystem API when you tried to access or create a file at "C:\\Users\\Miko�aj\\AppData\\Local\\JetBrains\\Rider2021.2\\log\\DebuggerWorker\\\", right?

Not sure about Windows, but on a real operating system that's: $ ln -sT Mikołaj/ Miko�aj That certainly isn't good , but it is > would have worked any better

Your think Windows doesn't have symlinks? Snobbish and wrong, nice combo

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#233

Post by johnorourke »

Dannymetconan wrote: post #117

I can very much relate to this but also have very little sympathy here. I have a special character in my name, an apostrophe, and it causes trouble regularly online and with tooling. A number of years ago I decided just to never use it when it came to anything to do with technical work be it email, logins or usernames. Unicode characters are a pain to deal with and I have suffered from it first hand trying to handle…

I can relate, mine is O'Rourke and even in 2021 I get:

- websites telling me I have an invalid name

- post addressed to O'Rourke, O\\\Rourke, O&Rourke

- "my account" pages say "Welcome, Mr O\Rourke"

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#234

Post by jack1243star »

indigo945 wrote: post #214
lmm wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not good enough, thanks to Han unification - if you do that you'll mangle Japanese names.

"Mangle" is an exaggeration. Japanese names will look correct after Han unification both to Japanese people on a Japanese computer and to Chinese people on a Chinese computer. (All other combinations fail.)

And we bilinguals can spam to try force the correct font on our blogs. Ugh.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#235

Post by Ansil849 »

Sometimes even "regular" ASCII surnames cause problems.

When written in the Latin alphabet, my surname is one letter.

I've had an amazing amount of problems with this not just due to technical limitations (like various forms marking the entry as invalid), but--much more aggravatingly--human limitations.

One particularly infuriating anecdote: at a past job many years ago, the email structure was lastname@company.com. I dutifully sent the IT person in charge of creating emails my desired email. The IT person wrote back an amazingly condescending email that as per the policy, emails had to be last names, not individual letters. I then had to go find a bunch of random websites which explained single-letter names and forwarded them to the IT person. They then obliged, but did not apologize for insulting me. That is not right that I had to put up with that.

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#236

Post by [deleted] »

perl4ever wrote: post #155
xlii wrote: post #101

Very similar problem to one described started my exodus from Google services. I also have non-latin characters in my name however I knew it was always an issue so I never used it in paths etc. At some point, long time ago, I was tasked to do some maintance with Google Cloud service (can't remember the name of the service now) which was doable only through Python CLI utility and it failed with very similar Python erro…

A Polish relative of mine used to just gave an arbitrary substitute name (e.g. "Dave Smith") for restaurant reservations, because even if they could write his last name, they wouldn't be able to pronounce it. My sibling has a name that has an accent, and just enters it with the plain letter most of the time. The name was once rare and "ethnic", but became popular a generation later so people know how to pronounce it…

[deleted]

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#237

Post by vincnetas »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #220
tyteen4a03 wrote: post #170

Fun fact: If you have the exclamation mark (!) in your Windows username, Java will think it's the jar separator and `getResourceAsStream` will refuse to work. This broke many people's Minecraft installation over the years. The bug in question [0] was reported in 2001 and remains unsolved 20 years later. [0] https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4523159

I find the very idea of putting an exclamation mark on one's username and not expecting eventual problems to be quite curious.

i recommend reading this "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names". world is crazy place if you expect some system in how people name each other and are writing it down.

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#238

Post by skrebbel »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #220
tyteen4a03 wrote: post #170

Fun fact: If you have the exclamation mark (!) in your Windows username, Java will think it's the jar separator and `getResourceAsStream` will refuse to work. This broke many people's Minecraft installation over the years. The bug in question [0] was reported in 2001 and remains unsolved 20 years later. [0] https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4523159

I find the very idea of putting an exclamation mark on one's username and not expecting eventual problems to be quite curious.

When you start a Windows computer for the first time, Windows gives you a text box and asks you to choose a user name. It does not explain in detail what this means or what it is for.

Does it really surprise you that people are going to type just about anything into that box that it will allow?

Re: I couldn't debug the code because of my name

#239

Post by selfhoster11 »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #220
tyteen4a03 wrote: post #170

Fun fact: If you have the exclamation mark (!) in your Windows username, Java will think it's the jar separator and `getResourceAsStream` will refuse to work. This broke many people's Minecraft installation over the years. The bug in question [0] was reported in 2001 and remains unsolved 20 years later. [0] https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4523159

I find the very idea of putting an exclamation mark on one's username and not expecting eventual problems to be quite curious.

I just find it annoying, much like the fact that Unix shell still has trouble dealing with spaces in things.
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